10 Location Sharing Apps to Use in 2018

05 January 2018

Location sharing apps can be used in many different scenarios. Whether you want to know where your friends are and how and where to meet them, to organize a party at your new place and invite friends who don’t know how to get there, to make sure your kids are safe, to send your colleague the exact location of your next business meeting, or just to inform your partner you’re running late along with your route, location sharing apps are the way to go.

There are lots of different apps to pick from, and in order to ease up your decision, we decided to pick the ten best and share them here. Check out the ten location sharing apps to use in 2018.

Glympse

Probably the most known third-party location sharing app, Glympse offers lots of different features such as controlling who can see you, timed location sharing, creating groups, and many more. Receive alerts, use the app with friends when on a music festival, organize meetings, and share locations of favorite places in your city to friends who want to discover new places.

Glympse is available both on Android and iOS, and the app can be used on any PC, just open it in your favorite browser. Glympse is free, it looks nice, it is packed with features and should be your top choice when it comes to location sharing. The app looks excellent and is really easy to navigate. Glympse should definitely be checked out.

Family Locator

Life360 Family Locator is a location sharing app targeted towards families and groups of friends. The app comes with a fair share of features, and it is free for use. A couple of advanced features are locked behind a paywall, but you will be able to use it fully without spending a dime.

Create groups, use timed location sharing, track group members, receive alerts, organize meetings, and much more with the Life360 Family Locator. The app can be downloaded both for Android and iOS.

Google Maps

Google Maps offers lots of different features, and it is a perfect app to find new places. It provides navigation, and its location-sharing feature just improves its usability. Share location with friends, stop sharing in a second, make plans and coordinate your routes.

Google Maps is a perfect app to use when in a new city, whether you are there as a tourist or for business. It will find best places to eat and drink, and it will make you easily set up a business meeting with location sharing. Available both for Android and iOS, and completely free.

Swarm

Swarm comes from Foursquare, and it is more of a social app than a location sharing one. You can check in, see where your friends are, and check out new places, chat, and more.

The app looks really nice, it is easy to use and will make location sharing immensely fun. Great for those who can’t live without social networks and at the same time want to use location sharing. Download it for Android and iOS.

Zenly

Another location sharing app that combines location sharing and social networks. It offers lots of features and features strong social component. You can choose with whom you want to share your location, go stealth so no one can see you, use messages, and receive alerts.

One interesting feature is the possibility to see other people’s battery levels, so you will know when they are low on battery, thus not sharing their location or answering your messages. It is completely free and available both for Android and iOS.

Telegram

Okay, Telegram is primary a chat app, but it recently received location sharing feature and if you want a simple way to share location with your contacts check this one out. We recommend Telegram because it is super safe (Edward Snowden approves it, just so you know), it has tons of stickers, it works flawlessly, and if offers just enough location sharing features to be used in this way. It is free and can be downloaded for Android and iOS.

Find My Friends

Another first-party solution, but from Apple. Find My Friends is installed on all iOS devices, and it is pretty useful. So if you own an iPhone and want a location sharing app that is filled with features, easy to use, and completely free, check out this one.

You can share location with friends via your Apple ID; you can find a lost phone, can disable location sharing for a while, and use timed location sharing. Aside from using it on the phone, the app can be used via a web browser. No need to download it since the app comes pre-installed on every iPhone.

Turtler

Turtler is a multi-purpose location sharing app targeted both at businesses and individuals. The app comes with a load of different features such as GPS tracking of employees, kids, along with voice communication, creation of personalized alerts, proximity notifications for friends so you can meet up when close, bookmarking, and much more.

The app can be used for timed location sharing, it is an excellent tool when groups of friends want to share their location (at clubs, or at music festivals), and the app comes with strong security measures in order to ensure complete personal data privacy. It isn’t launched yet, but you should expect it during the mid-2018. The good news is that the app should launch the beta version this month.

Karavan

Karavan is an app aimed at groups of friends who want always to be able to share location with each other. It is fairly new, and its main feature is creating Karavans – groups of people who can see each other on map in real-time.
The app does feature GPS optimisations in order to keep your phone’s battery alive for longer, and it will shut down once you exit it. Each group member can leave pins that can mark places, events, meeting spots, or something else, and pins are a fast way for the group to decide where to meet next, or where the next cool gig is when on a music festival. Karavan is free and available for the iOS. No Android version, sorry.

Facebook Messenger

If you already use Messenger, then you can use its location sharing feature and skip installing an app that would be used just for the purpose of location sharing. Messenger’s location sharing features are fairly limited but enough for someone who just wants to share location with friends, to find them on a map, or to pin a certain location for meeting purposes.

You can time for how long you will be visible, you can pin venues, bars, restaurants, which is great for showing your friends cool new places, and you can chat while on the way to meet up with a friend. Get it on Android and iOS.

Okay, that was our ten picks when it comes to location sharing. All of them offer something unique, and all of the apps are great choices. If you want something simple but effective, we recommend using Telegram. If you’re on Android, then Google Maps is a great choice, and the same can be said about Find My Friends for iOS users. If you want a huge number of features to check out Glympse, and if you like to be social you should download Zenly. Turtler looks very promising and if you want to try something new, wait a bit and try to get your hands on its beta version once it comes out later this month.